| |
|
Electronic
Plagiarism > Faculty Resources
> About Electronic Plagiarism > Sources of
Electronic Plagiarism
About Electronic
Plagiarism
Sources of Electronic
Plagiarism |
|
The main source of electronic plagiarism is the Internet, and in particular,
the World Wide Web. There one finds two types of web sites unethical
students might use for plagiarism: educational and informative sites and
cheating sites--also called paper mills.
|
|
Educational and
Informative Web Sites |
|
The Web gives access to articles in online magazines, journals, books, and
encyclopedias, as well as to universities libraries' online resources. This
material is usually collected through Internet search engines (e.g.,
Google, AltaVista) or by searching directly on
the web site that hosts the resource (e.g., Britannica web site). Although
these materials are posted on the Web for educational and informative
purposes, nothing can prevent them from being used by students for
plagiarism.
|
|
The Paper Mills
|
|
The Web also has web sites created with the purpose of
offering papers, essays, and other documents for cheating and plagiarism in
the academic environment. These sites are often called paper mills and
their number and the number of "services" they offer grow daily.
|
|
What types of papers are
available on paper mills? |
|
College and High School term papers, essays, book reviews, admission essays,
and more.
Essay Town,
for instance, claims to have available term papers, book reports, thesis
papers, research papers, master's theses, doctoral dissertations, essays,
research proposals, reviews, and admission essays.
Genius Papers advertises: "Just consider
Shakespeare's Macbeth for example: You will have over 100 pre-written
papers, databases and reference sites which cater to the play, a quote
finder to pull up the perfect quote--you'll even have the entire text in
electronic format with our e-text tool. After all, WE'VE DONE THE RESEARCH
FOR YOU." A quick tour of these sites also shows that some of them
share the same paper database. That is, a single paper might be offered in
more than one site.
Back
to top |
|
|
|
Do these sites charge for papers? |
|
Some sites offer papers for a fee (credit card charges come with a
fictitious seller's name); other sites request the upload of an original
paper to their database ("submit one essay for limited access; submit 3
essays for full access"); and others are free. Still others require one to
become a member (for a fee) so one can download their papers (for free).
Some cheating sites also advertise custom services, for a more substantial
fee. The paper order for this type of "service" includes
items such as: the paper topic, the minimum number of pages, and the
number of sources required.
Back
to top |
|
|
|
Are these papers of good quality? |
|
Most of them are poor or of very poor quality papers and some sites clearly
state they are not responsible for the quality of the material. For
instance, the
Cheat House says: "We do not guarantee the quality, completeness or
accuracy of any of the essays. Some essays have their complete biography,
others don't."
Back
to top |
|
|
|
Do any of these sites alert the students to the risk
of cheating? |
|
Yes, what of course sounds hypocritical. The
Cheat House, for instance, has included some short articles teaching
students how to cite research sources properly. It also includes a note
saying "and don't be an idiot! If you hand in one of these essays exactly as
it is, you ARE running a risk. IF caught, you could be kicked out of
your school. It happens. Teachers have been known to check essay sites, and
students have been caught. Instead of copying an essay, just use it -
get inspired, use the bibliography and cite the essay.
Simple and no risk."
Other People's Papers offers free papers and alerts students that they
might be caught by their teachers if they use their free papers ("Teachers
all over the world know about this site. They can't stop us, but they can
catch you."). Interestingly enough, this statement is followed by an offer
of safe "custom papers" which can be ordered for a fee.
Back
to top |
|
|
|
How can instructors
find paper mills? |
|
Instructors should familiarize themselves with the existing cheating sites
to have a clear idea of what type of material they offer, particularly
material related to their courses. A quick search on the Internet will
reveal a large number of these sites, each one with an equally large number
of papers. Open Google (or any other search
engine) and look for "free term papers."
In addition,
the university web pages below offer thorough lists of active paper mills:
Cheating 101: paper mills and you
(1999, revised September 2003) by M. Fain and P. Bates from Coastal
Carolina University. The authors compiled a list of over 250 web sites
offering services for students:
http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/papermil.html
They also list Internet Subject Specific
Paper Mills:
http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/mills5.html
Back
to top
|
|
About Plagiarism |
Identifying Plagiarism |
Preventing Plagiarism |
|
|
For
suggestions on new material, corrections, or comments about this
site
click on Feedback
in the navigation bar (right top and bottom of all pages).
|
